Press Release for Friday, July 2, 2010

UNF Professor Receives Grant to Conduct Knee Pain Research

Dr. Michelle Boling, an assistant professor in the
Department of Clinical and Applied Movement Sciences at the University of North Florida,
has been awarded a grant for more than $145,000 from the National Institute of
Health.

The Jacksonville Beach resident will use the grant to
determine the mechanical (structural and biomechanical) and non-mechanical
(demographic and psychosocial) risk factors that are associated with
patellofemoral pain (PFP) syndrome, one of the most common causes of knee pain,
and to identify whether risk factors for PFP are gender specific.

She
is collaborating with researchers from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, College of Charleston,
Uniformed Services
University and the United States Military
Academy.

“I
am very excited to further explore risk factors for this chronic knee
condition,” said Boling. “We hope that the findings from this investigation may
be used to develop injury prevention programs to decrease the risk of
developing PFP.”

PFP
affects approximately 25 percent of the physically-active population, with
females being 2 to 3 times more likely to develop PFP compared to males. Despite
the fact that the prevalence and incidence of PFP is higher among females,
there has been no research attempting to understand how risk factors may differ
by gender.

The
debilitating symptoms associated with PFP have been reported to persist over
several decades. The syndrome not only contributes to long-term, joint-related
complications (e.g. patellofemoral osteoarthritis), but also may lead to a
reduction in physical activity and a subsequent increase in inactivity-related
outcomes like obesity and chronic disease as well as significant health care
costs.

Boling
has been a faculty member at UNF since 2008 and has received numerous honors
and awards, including a Transformational Learning Opportunity Grant from UNF, a
University of North Carolina Future Faculty Fellowship
and an Outstanding Alumni award by the University of Kentucky College of Health
Sciences.

She
is a member of the Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program, the Southeast Athletic
Trainer’s Association, Athletic Trainer’s Association of Florida and the
National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

Boling
earned her bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
received her master’s degree from the University of Kentucky.